Ireland not 'ceding any sovereignty' by harmonising our asylum laws with the EU, Taoiseach says
Taoiseach Micheál Martin: 'Irish officials will still make decisions on whether applicants are granted protection status, An Garda Síochána will still police our borders, and Ireland will still control our deportation process.' Picture: Grainne Ni Aodha/PA
Taoiseach Micheál Martin has denied that Ireland is “ceding any sovereignty” to Brussels by enacting the EU Migration Pact.
In a fiery Dáil exchange with Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald, Mr Martin insisted that Ireland will “still make decisions on whether applicants are granted protection status”.
The EU Migration and Asylum Pact will be enacted in Ireland on Friday, two years after the Dáil voted to pass it by just seven votes. It is attempting to harmonise asylum laws across the bloc, and speed up the asylum and returns processes.
During Leaders’ Questions, Ms McDonald said Ireland had made the wrong decision by opting in and will “hand over powers on migration to the European Union”.
“We in Sinn Féin have made it clear that this pact undermines Irish sovereignty,” she said. “We have told the Government that decisions on migration should be taken — must be taken — by the people of this country.
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“We have also told it that the pact ignores our unique challenges and circumstances, especially that our country is still partitioned and that we share a common travel area with Britain.”
Ms McDonald argued that it will not deliver a “robust, fast, enforced system” in Ireland, nor will it provide “respect, dignity and a human rights-based response for those who flee war and persecution for safety”.
She also said that while the number of people seeking asylum has fallen, the overall number of applications and appeals pending has risen.
Mr Martin accused Ms McDonald of being “dishonest” and being “deliberately manipulative and is endeavouring to win votes on the back of the migration issue”.
“The problem for Sinn Féin is that it is flip-flopping all over the place,” he said. “Sometimes when the far left and the far right unite against legislation, I think we have hit the right spot.”
He also argued that a Sinn Féin MEP voted in favour of two parts of the pact in the European Parliament.
“We are not ceding any sovereignty. We are not giving away any decision-making powers,” he said.
“Irish officials will still make decisions on whether applicants are granted protection status, An Garda Síochána will still police our borders, and Ireland will still control our deportation process.
“The pact does not result in Ireland giving up its sovereignty in the area of immigration and no amount of empty, shallow sound bites will change that reality and that truth.”
Several Sinn Féin TDs have posted nearly identical messages on social media in recent days, saying they have had a “large number of emails” on the migration pact, noting that the party was going to “seek a special debate” on Tuesday about the issue, and encouraging people to email Government TDs to say they want the pact debated.
Mr Martin said that a “flurry of activity was created last week by all sorts online — filling everyone's emails and telling them something desperate is going to happen in the next week because of this pact coming in”.
“We have never had a situation where legislation was passed and an attempt was made to try and fool the people into believing that it is all going to happen this week when in fact, this has been debated at great length in the House already.”
Another minister told the that they have never seen a situation where Ireland opted into an agreement, and the legislation underpinning it was signed into law, only for there to be calls for legislation to be debated on again.
It comes amid concern in some parts of Government that an alleged stabbing in Belfast on Monday evening could become a “tinder box”.
- Louise Burne is a political correspondent for the
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